Running with oil plug out

[Frank Graham]

Guys, I gotta thank everyone who has piped up! You have given me courage to take on the oil change place and you have given me some advice (get a new engine from Toyota, instead of a rebuild) that I wouldn't have known about.

My pal (female) is utterly heartbroken about the thing: she is a single mom who drives her kids all over kingdom come every day and she is out a car for the duration of getting this fixed. Got to get a rental car that she can't afford for how ever long this takes.

She's got a valuable resource in, actually, me. I'm a lawyer and I'm hammering out what we call a "nuclear-war" letter to the lube joint in a few minutes. I expect them to come back with "not our fault" or "you can't prove it" or "ya wanna sue us? Get in line" response.

I used to do all my own car maintenance when I was in school and afterwards, so I identify with the DIY attitude. My pal, though, hasn't the time or ability to do this sort of thing.

Anybody have a WAG (wild-ass-guess) as to the cost of getting a new engine, assuming we have to do that without the assistance of the lube joint?

[Tamago]

Originally Posted by Frank Graham

Anybody have a WAG (wild-ass-guess) as to the cost of getting a new engine, assuming we have to do that without the assistance of the lube joint?

www.car-part.com

look for an xA, xB, echo engine. you'll have to swap wiring harnesses though, and throttle bodies.

should be able to get a low miles longblock for under $500. if i was local to you i'd do the swap for $200 labor.

you should be able to get the entire job done for under $1000 if you research properly.

[WolfWings]

Originally Posted by Frank Graham

Anybody have a WAG (wild-ass-guess) as to the cost of getting a new engine, assuming we have to do that without the assistance of the lube joint?

11101-21061 and 11400-21220 will run about $3200 combined, those are the bare-minimum body-shop-labor-intensive replacement options of new lower block, new head, but re-using everything down to the valve cover and oil pan but none of the guts as far as I can tell.

There's no price listed for the 'full engine assembly' part, 19000-21860, but likely around $4-$4.5k from Toyota.